New research from Roy Morgan has revealed that the average amount of superannuation of women intending to retire in the next 12 months is $177,000, while men’s was at $309,000.
The women’s average represented just 57.3 per cent of the male average – only a 2.1 per cent growth from 55.2 per cent in 2008.
“Despite a great deal of publicity being given to this issue over the last decade in an attempt to close the gender gap in superannuation, there has been no real progress,” a statement from Roy Morgan said.
Approximately 392,000 people have intentions to retire in the coming 12 months, it said.
Superannuation Balance of Intending Retirees Male vs Female
Source: Roy Morgan single Source (Australia)
Roy Morgan industry communications director Norman Morris said women “still lag males” in the areas of full-time and overall employment.
“This has been one of the major reasons that overall female income levels are around 25 per cent lower than males, which obviously in turn leads to lower superannuation contributions and balances when compared to males,” Mr Morris said.
As a consequence, women are more likely to have “lower income” and “interrupted employment”.
“Over the last decade they have been unable to close the gap to males and generally show inadequate superannuation for retirement.
“It is likely to take some considerable time and changes to superannuation conditions for females to achieve an adequate level of superannuation more equivalent to their male counterparts,” he said.
A number of factors beyond superannuation had an impact on retirement funding, Mr Morris added, such as “other investments, home ownership, debt levels, personal and household incomes, [and] financial attitudes”.
